With the increase of construction activities in Ghana, there is an increasing demand in building materials leading to the shortage of the conventional materials. The informal sector is gradually seeing the introduction of quarry dust as a substitute of sand in block production. This paper focuses on a comparative analysis of the quality of sandcrete blocks and quarry dust cement blocks. Block samples were gathered from various suppliers around the Prampram and Dawhenya areas and through various laboratory tests were tested for their dimension tolerance, water absorption and compressive strengths. Aggregate samples were also taken from suppliers for sieve analyses. The study revealed that the quarry dust cement blocks contained relatively higher percentages of coarse grade particles compared to the sandcrete blocks. The total average water absorption of sandcrete blocks was found to be 3.90% while quarry dust showed an improved value of 3.28%. Sandcrete blocks were averagely found to be of a higher compressive strength of 4.31N/mm2, with quarry dust at 3.0N/mm2. The study suggested the likelihood of a lesser use of cement in the production of quarry dust cement blocks due to the similarities in colour between the quarry dust and cement, hence, negatively affecting its compressive strength.

This paper reports on a new experimental study for the behaviour of reciprocally connected and supported Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) hollow square profiles axially loaded under several boundary conditions. The study aims to determine the ultimate load of the assembly and failure mechanism of mutually connected units. For the tests, FRP reciprocal frames units (RF) of 100 × 100 × 6.4 mm thick square hollow sections were designed, fabricated and assembled using mechanical fasteners. A bespoke steel test rig allowed for varied support boundary conditions. The observed failure modes were dominated by web buckling, bearing failure around the bolted areas and localised failure. The 100 × 100 mm RF unit achieved the highest load capacity of 16.4 kN and frame stiffness of 1.7 kN/mm, under the pin-pin-roller support boundary conditions. This paper presents the experimental procedure, results and observations.

This paper presents an experimental programme designed to investigate the failure mode and ultimate capacity of pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) cellular profiles subject to transverse loading. Presented in this study are the results of the characterisation of twenty six GFRP 152 × 76 × 6.4 mm I stub beams, 300 mm long. The beam specimens were categorised as plain for the control tests and those with circular or rectangular openings, centrally positioned. The specimens were subject to different loading configurations, noted as End Bearing with solid ground (EB), Interior Two Flange (ITF), Interior Bearing with solid base (IB) and End Two Flange (ETF) Results indicate a reduction in load-carrying capacity of the specimens with the opening when compared to the control specimens. The reduction was up to 20% for the specimens with circular openings and up to 25% for specimens with rectangular openings. The study revealed that loading configuration IB and ITF exhibit larger nonlinear behaviour and deformability than loading configurations EB and ETF. Various research has been conducted on its mechanical properties, connections, pultrusion techniques and web crippling behaviour of thin-walled GFRP section. Limited research can be found in the literature on the behaviour of pultruded GFRP beams with large perforation, subject to transverse static loadings.

This paper presents an investigation into the flexural behaviour of basalt FRP reinforced concrete beams through experimental and analytical methods. To achieve the research objectives, four concrete beams reinforced with steel and four identical concrete beams reinforced with BFRP bars were tested under four-point bending. The main parameters examined under the tests are the type of concrete (lightweight foam glass concrete and normal concrete) and the type of longitudinal reinforcement bars (BFRP and steel). Test results are presented in terms of failure modes; deformation crack pattern and the ultimate moment of resistance are presented. The experimental results are analysed and compared to predictive models proposed by ACI 440.1R, 2006 and BS EN 1992, Eurocode 2, for deformations and ultimate flexural capacities of the steel and BFRP reinforced concrete beams. The experimental results indicated that the flexural capacity decreased for the beams reinforced with BFRP bars compared to that of a corresponding beam reinforced with steel bars. Both types of beams failed in the modes predicted. The prediction models underestimated the flexural capacity of BFRP reinforced concrete beams. The increase in foam glass aggregate content was observed to reduce the cracking load by almost 10 - 40% and 25 - 50% for steel and BFRP reinforced concrete beams, respectively. The flexural capacities of BFRP reinforced beams were underestimated by using equations stipulated in ACI 440.1R and Eurocode 2 codes of practice.

Reinforcement of structural timber members with fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) rods offers merits over that of the conventional steel type. In recent times, near surface mounted (NSM) FRP reinforcement with timber has emerged as a promising alternative for reinforcing timber structures in both flexural and shear loading configurations. Previous investigations have shown that NSM FRP reinforcement technique has higher bond performance than externally bonded equivalents because it (NSM FRP technique) is able to utilise the full capacity of the FRP materials. In spite of these merits, the investigations and the use of this innovative technique are limited. In this paper, an experiment was conducted to investigate the bond characteristics and performance of NSM basalt FRP reinforcement with solid timber structures. In order to predict the performance of the reinforced beam structures, unreinforced control timber members of the same timber characteristics were tested. The results showed that the average bond capacity of the NSM FRP reinforced members was 16% higher than the corresponding unreinforced beams.